Corker: In today’s ‘tribal’ politics, Trump is all that matters

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker tells the Times Free Press that the Republican party has discarded its core principles under President Donald Trump as national politics has become “tribal”

“It’s Trump. You’re with him or you’re against him, and that’s all the campaigns are about now.”

…”Before the [2016] election, Republicans generally thought that America was a force for good in the world, and their involvement helped make the world a better place and made us as a country safer. But not so much anymore,” Corker said.

“Republicans used to believe in fair free trade, and, really, Republican congressional people still do. But the base following the president, he doesn’t. So not so much anymore, free trade.

“Republicans used to care about fiscal issues? Not so much anymore.

“And then Republicans had a lot of respect for the institutions of government, right, because we’re conservative, traditional people? Not anymore.

“Now, it’s so tribal. The Republican base out there, which has changed a lot since the election, all they want to know is, are you a Trumper? Period. I don’t care what the issue is.

“And I would guess on the Democratic side they want to know one thing, are you doing everything you can to hurt the president?”

“We’re in a place where Republicans, period, are not going to propose paying for anything, and where Democrats, period, are not going to propose even changes that really don’t hurt people,” Corker said.

“The way the political parties are, the people in the right ditch, and in the left ditch, you have people back home saying, ‘Look at the courage this guy’s got. Look at how he’s standing up.’ On both sides of the aisle.

“There’s no courage. None. Not an ounce of courage. What takes courage is to burn your political capital to solve the nation’s problems. There are times you can reach across the aisle, burn some capital, solve a problem, and make our nation stronger. It’s those moments that mark your career as being a statesman or not being a statesman.”

19 Responses to Corker: In today’s ‘tribal’ politics, Trump is all that matters

The Republican party discards their Republican Platform the second after it is written.
Corker wants what Marsha Blackburn wants, Foreign Entanglements in ‘free trade’. They both love sovereignty destroying so-called ‘free trade’ deals. The more Rules, Penalties, and Unelected bureaucrats, the better, so they think.

Republicans once elected rarely if ever defend or promote the Republican Party Platform, hell most of them have never bothered to read it. Here in Tennessee Haslam, Alexander and Corker have always used the Platform as a tool for getting elected but when it comes to governing the GOP Platform is as easily discarded as a spent roll of toilet paper.

““Republicans used to care about fiscal issues?”
That’s you Senator. You didn’t read the tax “reform” bill, you just voted the way Trump and MCConnell ordered you to vote, then whinged and whined afterwards about how you realllly didn’t know you would profit tremendously from it and now you complain that it was a bad bill.
Liar and hypocrite!

I like senator Corker’s outgoing comments about statesmanship and I think he is spot on about the wrongs of “tribal politics’. Entrenched partisans are treating our lives and the governance of our lives as some sort of endless war where nobody wins. We already have plenty of those around the globe, now we have tribal warfare among ourselves on Main Street.

I’m counting on millennials to blow the whistle and call foul on the failings of our generation. We were the baby boomers that’s saw men walk on the moon and applauded the Republicans that created the EPA. The NRA was a gun safety organization. The closest thing we had to the Internet was a Whole Earth Catalog. Religion and politics were personal choices, that neighbors and families kept to themselves. Not anymore. Now it is all name calling as bullies abound. As voters this is was our fault.

But where has this man of idealism been over the years?

He had a front row seat to a great leader and a front row seat to a really bad leader. America traded down in 2016. And the good senator from Chattanooga is trading in his power for peace and dignity. I wish him well going forward and suspect full well that his service to the public is not over. It will more private and perhaps more powerful and everlasting.

Bill, you centrist Republicans made the Republican Party what it is today, a feckless organization of place holders who can only bestir themselves to action at the behest of the Chamber of Commerce and Business Round Table. You have no problem capitulating to liberals so long as we do so slowly so you can get used to the loss of our individual freedom and the remorseless expansion of federal government power. Into this ideological vacuum that people like yourself and the Corkers of the world created comes a huckster like Trump and you cry foul. What a cruel, sad and somewhat infuriating joke!

Are you referring to Obama as a great leader? You must be kidding! I would agree if you are referring to him as the lousy leader. The man should be brought up on treason charges. As for Corker, he’s just pissed because it isn’t all about him.

‘President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA and it began operation on December 2, 1970, after Nixon signed an executive order. The order establishing the EPA was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate.’

Unions were a good idea at one time. So was the EPA. Corrupt officials and ideologues ruined both organizations over the last 40 years. Corker is a RINO and leaves the Senate as Al Gore left the VP’s office: In disgrace and with ruined reputations. I will let history judge Obama. Not looking good so far, though. His supporters are crybabies, fascists, abusers of women, and willing to let this country be destroyed economically. Know a person by the company they keep. See you folks at the polling places in the Fall.

“Not anymore” indeed! Modern day political conservatives have a deep distrust of government viewing government as a necessary evil that is, by its very nature, a threat to the individual liberty and wealth. There has always been a strain of this attitude in the politics of western nations though it used to be called “liberal.”

Who pays attention to Corker? His name fits him perfectly, Corker is a Corker! I sense a bit of jealousy on the part of Corker vs Trump! If everyone was a “Corkerer or a Corkerite” he would be grinning from ear to ear. Lets call it like it is: Trump says he has voted for both Republicans and Democrats! So have I because some Democrats were in the past for the people, more about the Constitution! But the new so called Dems are not what the blue bloods were! Both parties have good and bad in them. I have seen both sides of the fence. I grew up Republican, married a Democrat and voted for who I most believed in – I did vote for Bredesen as Governor and he proved to be honest, for the people of Tennessee and his legacy follows him. My first husband is deceased and I have been remarried to a Republcian for 21 years and I now am a registered Republican and have been again since 1998. However in our local party in East TN. I am seeing lust for power, greed – the personalities of many of our elected officials both Republican and Democrats are formed around themselves. The do not seem to realize that their legacy is being formed in the present and will follow them the rest of the days of their lives. I want to live by our Constitution and if elected govern by it. I want a legacy of doing what is right for our people of Tennessee – all three parts of Tennessee, not just one area as Gov. Haslam has done. I want a legacy for looking out for our children and getting rid of the terrible educational system which brought in Common Core and is now renamed “Tennessee Standards” but is still teaching “Islam” to our children! I want a legacy of dealing with the “Freebies” in TN by requiring “Benefits for Work” unless declared by two doctors to be incompetent and unable to work! Maine cut their Welfare from over 12,000 to less than 2500 once they implemented this program! I want our state to officially declare and put into law that NO CITY will be allowed under our law to have a Sanctuary City. I want to see a Child Moslester put on Death Row – or better yet, if convicted, put to death within 90 days. I have a plan to work to get more jobs in Tennessee and more non- violent criminals back to work and into society with hope for tomorrow and tax breaks for the employers of these people! I do not have the money to win or buy my way in but I have the courage to stand against all forces. This is what I want in a leader and feel that each of you do also – regardless of party – this is about our lives and the lives of future generations. Any other leadership, like Haslam, Boyd, Harwell and anyone associated with the belief that the people do not matter – only their own wealth are like the “FAKE NEWS AND FAKE STRAW POLLS BEING BOUGHT BY BUYING TABLES AND TICKETS AT THE DINNERS” – they are FAKE AND THEY WILL DESTROY TENNESSEE!